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We had reported earlier this month that Ariel Motorcycles is planning to make a comeback to the world of two-wheelers and true to its word it has now unveiled the Ace; its first motorcycle after a hiatus of over 50 years. Ariel has unveiled two versions of the bike - a power cruiser and a street naked. Both the bikes feature the billet aluminium trellis frame similar to the one seen on the Atom sports car. Apart from the visible difference in styling and ergonomics another major design distinction between the bikes is that the power cruiser employs “Ariel Girder” fork with an Ohlins sourced suspension. The street bike sports a more conventional setup with upside down forks (USD), again sourced from Ohlins.

According to Ariel Motorcycles, the Ace can be custom built in varying configurations depending on the whims of the customer similar to the Atom sports car and therefore, every motorcycle will be unique. Owing to the modular chassis design, the bike has mounting points for optional extras like restyled fuel tanks, fenders, handlebars, seats and wheels among others. Standard features on the Ariel Ace include Nissin sourced six-piston callipers braking system and traction control system. Customers also have an option of upgrading to Brembo brakes. For customers who want to ride the Ariel Ace on the track, a custom data-logger can also be fitted to the bike.

Powering the Ariel Ace is a V4 motor borrowed from the Honda VFR1200F. The 1237cc, liquid-cooled mill churnsout 172PS at 10,000rpm and 129Nm of torque at 8,750rpm. The powerplant is mated to Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). The DCT transmission means that there is no clutch lever and the rider has to use the push-button “paddle” shifters for shifting up and down or switch to complete automatic mode.

Talking about performance, Ariel claims that the Ace can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds going all the way to achieve its top whack of 265kmph. The Ace will be built at the Somerset production facility of Ariel alongside the Atom. Production of the Ariel Ace will be restricted to between 100 to 150 units. The base price of the Ace has been set at Rs 20.4 lakh (excluding customs and other taxes) but it is sure that the final price of the bike will be well above that given the plethora of optional extras. The Ace will make its public debut at the upcoming 2014 Godwood Festival of Speed scheduled from June 26 to 29.